Salmaniya nurse attacker gets three years’ jail, deportation, ban from re-entry

TDT | Manama

The Fourth High Criminal Court has announced its verdict in the trial of an Indian man who attacked a female nurse of the same nationality in the capital earlier this year. The Court sentenced the 29-year-old to three years’ imprisonment, deportation, and a ban from reentering the Kingdom in the future. The Court’s verdict came after finding the man guilty of assault charges and attempted robbery.

The man brutally attacked a nurse in the Salmaniya area in February, in an attempt to snatch her purse, according to his statements in the interrogation of the Public Prosecution. The man also said that he was drunk at the time of the incident, in a bid to justify his hostile behaviour after he initially denied the accusation.

He confessed that he was intoxicated and followed the woman in the vicinity of his residence in Salmaniya for two to three minutes before he ambushed her. The man also told interrogators that he had choked the victim from behind using his hand, causing her to fall to the ground, and later punched her in different parts of her body.

The man further stated that the victim resisted him and cried out for help, adding that he escaped the spot when he saw two individuals approaching. As reported earlier by TDT, the victim is a 33-year-old Indian nurse who was walking home after finishing her shift at Salmaniya Medical Complex at around 10pm on the night of the incident, February 18.

Footage recorded by a security camera installed in a shop located near the crime scene showed how the defendant stalked the victim as she walked. He suddenly attacked her from behind and brought her down to the ground, where he continued punching her, pulling her by the hair, and attempting to forcefully snatch her purse.

The footage soon went viral on social media networks, raising nationwide condemnation of the “cowardly” act and demands to bring the man to justice. Less than 48 hours later, a statement issued by Interior Ministry confirmed that the man has been identified and arrested, in cooperation between the Capital Governorate Police Directorate and the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science in the Ministry.